Some OC stability testing questions

S

Sycraft

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Nov 9, 2006
Messages
5,898
So I'm not a big fan of OCing in general, but I decided to do it on my old 2600k. Took it up to 4GHz without raising the vcore at all, perfectly stable, so I called it a win. Well I have a mental block about my new 5930k being a slower clock speed. So I want to take it to 4GHz as well (not any more).

Also I want to run it on as close to the standard 1.1vcore as possible. I'm not a big fan of over volting things in general, particularly since I don't go all out with water cooling. I just have a normal air cooler (this one in particular). However I demand rock solid stability, hence my general dislike of OCing.

So, what utilities do you like for checking, other than Prime95?

Also, in the guidance form ASUS in the x99 thread, they say don't use the new Prime95 as it uses AVX2 and can cause issues. Is that the case?

Thanks.
 
I am in the same boat as you my friend. I have my 5930K at 4GHz right now with 1.26 volts, and the LLC level set at Level 8, other then that's I left everything default and ran the AIDA 64 stress test for 20 hours and it ran without a hitch. The only thing I still have left to do is clean up the wiring and decide if Arctic Silver 5 is better then the stock paste that was on the H110 cooler I have.
 
I typically use IBT, and HW Monitor. What is your reasoning for not wanting to overvolt it? If temps are in check and you have maintained stability I see no difference, as the life expectancy is rarely affected,
 
Mostly paranoia in not wanting to hurt my expensive toy, but also to keep heat down.
 
Sounds like you'd be the perfect person for Intel's overclocking warranty.

I did some search on this and apparently it really is as good as advertised, and there have been reports of people trading in their old chip because it wasn't good enough. The chip didn't even have any signs of degradation but Intel still honored the warranty and gave them a new chip.

I bought this plan the day I got my 4930K, and my paranoia and OCD have been much alleviated. The only caveat is that it takes 30 days for the warranty to activate, so just make sure you don't run that suicide bench until the 31st day after purchasing that plan. ;)
 
Hmmm. I might buy that, it isn't very expensive. That aside, I still think I'll stick with a pretty low OC just for heat reasons. I mean it is already faster than anything I do needs, so it is kinda silly :). I currently have it set to run at 4GHz and 1.12 volts, at which is seems perfectly stable. I'm probably going to try decreasing the voltage down to stock and see how that goes. Maybe I'll push it another 100MHz or two. I just prefer something stable to something blazing fast since, well, it isn't like anything is CPU limited with something this powerful.

I do computer support for a living so I don't like screwing around with my personal system, I want it to just work so I can play games :D.

I also have residual wariness from way back in the day when I did a Celeron 300a -> 450 OC. I had a crap chip and so I had to push the voltage pretty hardcore to make it do that (my roommate did it at stock on his). Was stable, or at least as stable as Win95/98 ever was, for a couple years, then started to break down. I'd rather that not happen to me.

I think I'll get that plan though and then chill with it for at least a month. Then if I want to push it more, I wont' worry so much. Probably pure profit for Intel but $25 is cheap for my peace of mind.
 
I think what that plan really highlights is just how much profit Intel is reaping off of these chips. Selling $25 silicon for $500 and yet suckers like me still gobble them up like hotcakes :eek:

I understand what you mean by decreased life expectancy, and that's what held me back from overclocking initially as well. Then looking back at my purchase history, apart from the laptop I used for 6 years while in college because I was completely broke, (those were 6 dark years I tell ya, I was rocking a single core AMD ML-30 CPU in 2011 LOL) I never waited more than 2 years before buying new tech, so longevity wasn't an actual concern because by year 2 I'm probably itching to upgrade anyway.

So as long as the components can last 2 years I'm happy. Then I found out about this overclocking warranty and any inhibition I had left was completely gone. Currently rocking 4.5GHz on my 4930K with 1.36-1.39V (using offset method, so it fluctuates). Normally I'd be crapping my pants at pushing 1.4V, but because I know I'm covered I have 0 fear now. :D (knock on wood anyway)
 
I also generally replace components pretty fast, however I've been slowing down. The reason is new CPUs are offering less benefits over old ones than they used to. Part of this is just reaching more limits to lithography, but also because CPUs are faster than we need for most things these days so even if a CPU is an upgrade, it may not matter much.

So I could see this lasting 4-5 years for me. I don't plan on it, but I could see it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top